MAY 13, 1920
SMALL SPORTING AEROPLANES : The triplanes
• Spad " S (?H) 30 " (FRENCH).—Tractor single-seater with45 h.p. Anzani engine. Single I interplane struts. Mono-
cogue fuselage. Exhaust led through silencer below thefuselage. Has flown. Bleriot Aeronautique, France.
W.K.F. " Klenflugzeug " (AUSTRIAN).—Tractor single-seater with 35 h.p. Hiero three-cylindered air-cooled " Fan "-
type engine. Wiener Karosserie und Flugzeugfabrik,Austria.
' ' •-" • ": Triplanes .,,' "• : ... .;:: •' V:-.,jj'...'..:
Capronl " Pensuti-2 " (ITALIAN).—Tractor single-seaterwith 35 h.p. Anzani engine. Rectangular fuselage mounted
to and below middle plane, ailerons on all three planes.Planes supported by one pair of interplane struts each side
of the fuselage and two pairs at the latter. Wide landing-chassis. Has flown. Societa per Lo Sviluppo Dell'Aviazione
in Italia, Italy.
Louis Clement (FRANCE).—Tractor single-seater with35 h.p. Anzani mounted behind the main planes and driving
the airscrew through a tubular shaft. Pilot in nose of fuselagein front of main planes. Planes separated by a single
" straight through" interplane strut on each side of thefuselage, and one tubular strut at the fuselage. Metal con-
struction. No under-carriage, wheels attached direct toand sprung inside lower plane. Etablissements Louis
Clement, France.
Ricci " R-6 " (ITALIAN).—Tractor single-seater with40 h.p. Anzani (radial) engine. Single I interplane struts on
each side of the fuselage and two at the fuselage. Balancedailerons top and bottom planes. Has flown. Societa In-
dustriale Aviatorie Meridionali, Italy.
In addition to the foregoing, a small school biplane, witha 50 h.p. Gnome, not unlike the Nieuport without the V
interplane struts, was built by the Garbardini Co. of Italy,and a small biplane flying-boat, with a 40 h.p. A.B.C. Gnat,
has also been designed by the Gosport Aircraft Co., but hasnot, we believe, been built.
There are, of course, several other makes of machinesthat, strictly speaking, come within the category of small
sporting aeroplanes, but inasmuch as they are fitted withengines of over 50 h.p., they have not been included here.
We refer to the Farman " David " (biplane, 60 h.p. LeRhone), Grahame-White "Bantam" (biplane, 80 h.p. Le
Rhone), L.W.F.-Cato " Butterfly " (monoplane, 66 h.p.Cato, 2 cyl. horizontally opposed air-cooled) and Cato
" Sportplane "(Parasol monoplane, 60 h.p. Cato). All thesemachines have been described in previous issues of
FLIGHT.Full detailed descriptions, with scale drawings, of the G.-W.
" Bantam " and the Cato " Sportplane " being publishedin the issues for April 10, 1919, and October 9, 1919, re-
spectively, whilst particulars and illustrations of the Farman" David " appeared on December 25, 1919, and January 8,
1920, and of the L.W.F.-Cato on April 1, 1920. *
AVIATORS AS DESPATCH CARRIERS
LECTURING on " Imperial Aspects of Aviation," before
the Royal Colonial Institute, Lieut.-Col. Lockwood Marsh,
Secretary of the Royal Aeronautical Society, said that,
generally speaking, he believed that, from the political and
" staff " point of view, aircraft would in the future have
uses somewhat analogous to those of the submarine cable.
Important despatches would be carried between all parts
of the Empire by air.
The great difficulty of locating some of the German
commerce raiders during the war showed that it would be
practically impossible to prevent aerial communication
between the component parts of the Empire. It was from
this point of view that the establishment of the Imperial
commercial air routes was so important. There should be
a chain of aerodromes and airship stations on British territory
throughout the world, exactly as there were coaling stations
for the Fleet. -.;. -.:. .-'•- ..„..•v
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A Bleriot Safety Prize :
M. Louis BLfouoT has offered to the Aero Club of France
a sum of 100,000 francs for a prize to encourage research with
a view to improving the safety of aeroplanes. The aviation
committee of the Club is now busy drawing up the rules for
the competition for the Coupe de Securite Bleriot.
"447 Miles an Hour"
RECENTLY some French papers have published notes
regarding an incident to the French pilot Weiss during an
attack on the height record on March 19, and based on them
some misleading paragraphs have been telegraphed to
After discussing the value of the airship in settling tribaldisputes and carrying out punitive expeditions, the lecturer
said that the French Army airship pilots during the warcarried out 63 raids over the German lines, during which they
only lost two airships, although the craft used were onlycapable of descending a little over 12,000 ft.
The real value of commercial aircraft, from the Imperialpoint of view, lay in their capacity for bringing closer together
the various units of which the Empire was«"composed. Thiswas a question not merely of improved mail facilities, but
also of actual human intercourse. For example, it wasimpossible for many whose business lay in the home country
to spare the time for a long sea voyage or overland journeyto and from one of the distant Colonies. If people were
able to get about more and to see one another's difficultiesat first hand, they would inevitably be brought closer
together.
England. The facts are that during a lecture before theFrench Academy of Science on March 24, M. Rateau men-
tioned that M. Weiss, on reaching 8,ooo metres, found thathe had insufficient oxygen. Realising his danger he cut off
the ignition, and started to make a rapid descent. At thecommencement, M. Weiss estimated his speed at 200 metres
per second, and his barograph showed that the machine haddropped 2,800 metres in 14 seconds, representing a speed of
720.kilos per hour (447 m.p.h.). The pilot reached theground safely, but his machine was badly damaged, the
ailerons being carried away and several wires broken.
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